Lessors Now Question The Wisdom Of Mega Airliner Orders
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner and GECAS chief executive Norman Liu seal a deal for 100 Boeing 737s at Farnborough 2012. (Photo: Gregory Polek)
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner and GECAS chief executive Norman Liu seal a deal for 100 Boeing 737s at Farnborough 2012. (Photo: Gregory Polek)

The trend over the last few years in which customers have placed extremely large orders for airliners has raised questions about the underlying reasons and its potential effect on OEMs that continue to raise production rates in response. The practice seems most prevalent among customers for narrowbodies, prompting both Boeing and Airbus to project rate increases to well beyond 40 per month in the coming years and raising concerns within some circles of a so-called bubble in the sector.